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#psion
3 posts3 participants1 post today
@rpimag Been working on the enclosure for my #Psion project. This is the top of it. The "blades" at the top are so the hinges don't get too stressed. I can appreciate their level of stress, today especially! 
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Went out for lunch but had to stop #3dprinting as noone would have been at home. Good job too as I tried the half finished print around the #Psion keyboard and the aperture isn't big enough. Always learning. New print underway with bigger window.
Programming a brand new #Psion text adventure game on the 3mx, but will work on 3a and 3c too! Written in OPL. Journey to the mystical Music Island and find the lost treasure of legendary pirate Pizzicato Pete (who also has a Psion, like all good pirates), before Violin Volcano blows its top. Still at a very early stage - some of the locations and verbs sorted out - long way to go... @shaneir.bsky.social
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The more I 3D print the case for my #Psion Pi project, the more I think laser cutting layers might be easier...
Any #3dprinting design advice for me? I have this case for the #Psion Pi project that I want to print (see pic). The trouble is, Cura is estimating > 24 hours each for the two "big bits". I am reluctant to print at home THAT long as it'll disturb sleep/others in bouse. Can I split the bits up somehow and assemble? 
Hmm. Hinge is a bit bigger than I expected... Never mind, let's see what it looks like afterwards #Psion #raspberrypi
Finally found the hinge design I need for my #Psion project - https://penkesu.computer/
Takes the ribbon cable from the bottom half through to the screen. Perfect. 3D files available so I can get really up-close, too.
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Next project! Psion Pi keyboard conversion – more details as we go!
My next project is to successfully convert a Psion 5 keyboard for use as a Raspberry Pi keyboard.
You can find all the details, in the form of a build log, here!
Amateur #3Ddesign for #3Dprinting 101. Clamshell case for #psion #raspberrypi project!
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Some success with the 4MB #Psion 3mx!
I've been able to write directly to a page of RAM in the upper 2MB of memory, using #EDisAsm. I modified one of the memory-dumping assembly routines to basically go in the opposite direction. It writes 16 bytes to bank 0x6000, page 0x20. Then I dumped that to a file.
It worked! There's no corruption, and I can't see it mirrored anywhere. Using this basic test, we can pretty safely say that ASIC9MX is able to address the extra RAM (like the SSK says), and that the second code chip is soldered correctly.
However, this doesn't explain why #EPOC16 doesn't like it. To recap, although EPOC16 reports that it has 4MB RAM, the ramdrive (M:) is inaccessible - apps report that the "media is corrupted", and the OS says it's unformatted. Any attempt to format the ramdrive fails silently.
The current guess is that the ramdrive "driver" can't handle more than 2MB RAM. It might be just the formatting routine, but it could be the ramdrive filesystem can't handle it. However, there might be a hard limit on pointers. This could be a bigger issue: the ramdrive in EPOC16 resizes dynamically, so the ramdrive "driver" and the filesystem's pointers would need to be able to handle the bigger filesystem size.
Unfortunately, this filesystem is undocumented - Psion never expected anyone to need to fiddle with it. Fortunately, EDisAsm can dump all memory, so it would be possible to analyse it. Dump a freshly booted 2MB 3mx, add a file, dump it again, delete a file, dump it again...
If it turns out that this is the case, it might be necessary to create a custom EPOC16 ROM. This would require a few things: working out how to modify the driver (and anything else) successfully, putting together a new EPOC16 image with the be driver, and a 3mx that's been modded to take flash. Bearing in mind that no EPOC16 source has been unearthed.
In conclusion, definitely progress, but there's still a long way to go.
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For my #Psion project, I want to have a clamshell case. However, there will need to be at least one, perhaps two, ribbon cables that need to go from one side to the other. My Google-Fu is failing me in trying to search for a hinge which will take the ribbon cable through without mangling it. Any ideas?
@recantha I had a Psion Series 5mx back in 2000. I LOVE that form-factor. To have it in a more useful implementation (RPi) would be pretty intriguing. Anxious to see more. Nice!
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Replied to The Last Psion | Alex
So, I'm at a crossroads. I'm contemplating:
- Plough on with #CTRAN unit tests and refactor in #ObjectPascal and #NeoVim, and the write-up
- Try rewriting a different #Psion SIBO SDK tool in #ObjectPascal and #NeoVim
- Try a new project that's been on my mind for a long time, in C but use #VSCode
I feel like I'm slowing down with CTRAN development. After all, it "works"... but it's not "right."
The write-up is just a hard slog.
Moving on to a new tool might give me some inspiration on how to improve CTRAN. But I don't want to leave a trail of mostly-finished projects in my wake.
The C project is a bit special to me. It's also something people might actually use - unusual for one of my projects! It's for Psion #EPOC16 and would enable a huge number of old games to run on the Series 3a/c/mx.
I was hoping to use NeoVim, but with clangd being awkward, I'd have to use VS Code.
The stuff I have in my drawers of geekery.
I used Symbian OS for years. It was a fantastic operating system which Nokia used a version of.
Me? Why I had a Psion Series 5 then a Nokia communicator. Until recently I used the series 5 as a clean and distraction free word processor. The keyboard is the best pocket keyboard ever made.
I've released version 0.3.7 of my WIP #Psion Agenda-like app "Pygenda" targeting keyboard-equipped PDAs running Linux (#GeminiPDA, #CosmoCommunicator, #PinePhone + keyboard, #PocketReform, F(x)tec #Pro1X).
The last two releases have been bug-fix releases (two releases because minutes after 0.3.6, I noticed an API change in a dependency was causing a crash & rushed out a fix). Hopefully it's in a good state for testing now.
Docs & source: https://github.com/semiprime/pygenda
GitHubGitHub - semiprime/pygenda: An agenda application inspired by Agenda programs on Psion PDAs, written in Python/GTK. Targeting Planet Computers' Gemini PDA and Cosmo Communicator (running Linux) in particular, but should work on similar devices (after providing a user CSS file to set font sizes etc.).An agenda application inspired by Agenda programs on Psion PDAs, written in Python/GTK. Targeting Planet Computers' Gemini PDA and Cosmo Communicator (running Linux) in particular, but should w...